The Flowering Tree
by PnQ
Summary: Underland wasn't the first underground refuge Bartholomew had founded. The first, now out of resources and wanting more, are looking to overthrow Luxa's Underland for themselves. Can Luxa, Gregor and Ripred save their Underland from the invaders?


Underland Chronicles – Book 8 – The Flowering Tree

Summary

Underland wasn't the first underground refuge Bartholomew had founded. The first, now out of resources and wanting more, are looking to overthrow Luxa's Underland for themselves. Can Luxa, Gregor and Ripred save their Underland from the invaders?

Preface

I'm building on my last two fan fiction books for this story, so if you haven't yet, please read 'The Prophecy of Peace' and 'The Prophecy of Snow.' Both can be found on fanfiction dot net. While I try and give enough background in my stories so that someone doesn't need to read the previous books to understand the story, knowing the backstory does make it more interesting!

I had struggled for a good plot for this story, I had been tooling around with the first two chapters knowing I wanted to make Bart's plot from my last story bigger, but not really having a story to go with that. Then one evening my ten year old son brought home a painting from an art class he was taking, the class was supposed to paint a picture of a tree the teacher had provided. The background on the painting looked like it belonged in the Underland and the tree itself looked like a bonsai tree with flowers and right there I had my story. Appropriately my son is also the one who had me read the original series. The painting he brought home that is the cover of this book.

I hope you enjoy the story, and as always your feedback, both positive and constructive, is welcome.

PnQ.

Chapter 1 – Gregor

Gregor ran through the cave like his life depended on it. He had no flash light and no torch to see where he was going and was using his passible echolocation skills to guide him. Every few steps one of his feet would unexpectedly land on a rock or crack and he would stumble, but so far he hadn't fallen. He had to go faster yet though, because his life really did depend on it.

Behind him was a white, five meter long, two tailed creature and it was gaining on him. He knew it was white, but that was before it had smashed Gregor's flashlight with one of its two tails. Now it was taking alternating swipes at him with each of those two tails. The tail swings were narrowly missing him and require some extra effort to dodge, making it hard to keep his footing. With the hard exoskeleton covering both tails it was worth the extra effort to dodge.

"Luxa will be furious with me," he thought while debating what was worse; what was behind him, or what Luxa would do with him when he returned to the castle.

He could 'see' he was nearing the end of tunnel, and shouted out, "Phobos, be ready for me!" Then tripped, unable to recover his footing he hit the ground hard. With porous volcanic rock eating his skin away like a cheese grater he tried to roll to limit the impact and in doing so he rolled out of the cave. The cave was off a main cavern, the problem with that was the cave was not at the bottom of the cavern. He felt himself tumbling down the side of the much larger cavern. With the side near vertical he was more falling than sliding, occasionally glancing off the cavern wall. He was relieved the black rock of the cavern wall was smooth and glassy unlike the porous red rock in the tunnel.

It was then a large claw grabbed his shoulder and yanked him upward away from the cavern floor before he had hit the bottom. "Great job Overlander, now half of the Underland knows where we are." Phobos said, ever the sarcastic flyer he was.

Gregor's shoulder was immediately aching from where Phobos had plucked him off the wall. Gregor asked, "The claw again? Really?"

He had been working with the armourer at the castle, seeing as Phobos seems to have need to pick him up by the shoulder more than Gregor would like. They had been trying different fabrics and attaching a loop to armour but they hadn't perfected it yet. The fabrics were too stiff which restricted Gregor's movements and any sort of loop or hook was too hard for Phobos to grab or caught on things it shouldn't. He made a mental note to check back to see if they had a newer version for testing.

Picking up some altitude and flipping Gregor high into the air, Phobos chuckled, "Next time jump instead of falling so I do not have to risk impaling myself on cavern walls to save you."

Landing on Phobo's back and looping his legs around the flyers wings Gregor had to admit, Phobos did have a point. A good jump would have been ideal to increase the clearance to the cavern wall. He could have then landed on Phobos' back like a proper rider instead of being plucked from the air by his claw, not that he had much choice. His shoulder though, that really hurt. Maybe he could leave Phobos' rescue out when he told Luxa.

They were crossing a large underground cavern, a magma chamber created by volcanic activity. There were smaller caves and tunnels leading to and from the cavern all over. The cavern itself was big enough to contain a small town, the tunnels off it varied in size from not passable at all to four lane highways. When there was light it just seem to be swallowed by the enormity of the cavern. While there was no current volcanic activity and there hadn't been for some time, still it was quite warm as they were deep within the earth.

Entering one of the larger tunnels, it wouldn't take them long to travel to Underland proper. Underland was massive with lakes, forest, cities and everything one would find on the surface, except light. From an abundance of oil and geothermal, they had lighting systems, but never any sunlight. Except for a select few, no Overlanders new about the Underland and it was a secret that had been kept for almost four hundred years. Luxa and Gregor were concerned that Underland's concealment wouldn't last, but for now it did.

Now out of the tunnel, Gregor was enjoying the flight. Once he had been scared of heights and not fond of being on a flyer. But one flyer had changed that. Ares. More than once, without thinking of himself, Ares had saved Gregor from certain death. With the trust he and Ares had in each other Gregor had come to enjoy flying. The quiet, the ability to think. Peacefulness.

Ares had died preventing a war between the killers and gnawers fifteen years ago. Underland may not have survived that war had he not gave his life so that Gregor could strike the fatal blow to Bane, an enormous albino gnawer. He was a hero. He was Gregor's hero, his bond, and there would always be a special place for him in Gregor's heart. In Phobos' heart too, after all, Phobos was Ares son.

Being bonded was a special relationship for a rider and flyer. Vowing to protect each other from death, even if it meant death to the other. Many never bond; Phobos and Gregor were not bonded. While there was no question of trust between the two, they never spoke of it, despite flying together for years. Even after all this time it seemed like a betrayal to Ares to even think about it.

Phobos was heading back to the castle, it would be a couple of hours before they arrived. "Are we done for this trip?" he asked. "You are bleeding all over my fur."

While Gregor sill lived in Overland with his daughter Judith, they came to Underland every weekend. He and Phobos had taken on expanding the existing mapping of the Underland. While much was known, even more was unknown. "We are Phobos, let's head home."

Judith was currently with Luxa, the queen of the humans in Underland, who was also Judith's mom. That made Luxa and Gregor complicated. They loved each other dearly, but saying they were not normal was an understatement. "So Phobos, what do we tell Luxa?"

Phobos laughed, "There is no we in that conversation Overlander."

Chapter 2 – Ripred

Bart Sandwich was alive. Not really, but on paper he was. Well, it was bits and bytes not paper to be accurate, it being the 21st century after all.

Ripred cursed at the keyboard, "Damn keys; no use to a gnawer." He was working in a room under the hospital in the castle which he could come and go from without much interaction with others; just a few guards. Not many came this deep into the castle's basement, which suited him fine, and the proximity to the hospital gave him the electricity and internet he needed for Bart's laptop.

He continued to fume, "Luxa should have Hazard doing this," he thought. The young kid was smart and had fingers, fingers being what a keyboard is designed for rather than Ripred's claws. His daydreaming continued, "Or her golden boy, Gregor," but there was no way that would happen.

Despite no thumbs and having claws instead of fingers he had finished what he needed to do on the computer. After Bart had met his untimely, untimely in that earlier would have been much better, Ripred had taken what he had found on the body, keys, wallet, and a cell phone. From there the Underlanders had taken over his identity and his life.

In Bart's apartment, they had found a trove of information on the Underland. Much of it hundreds of years old pass down through Bart's family from the founder of Underland, Bartholomew of Sandwich. Luxa and Ripred agreed that both the killers and gnawers would be equally involved in this endeavour and to that end, all the documents and books went to Nerissa and Ripred had the computer.

Still annoyed he thought, "Nerissa has fingers, why did not she get the computer instead?" But Ripred knew the answer to that. Nerissa was the nearest thing there was to being a historian of the Underland and was the expert on the topic of Bartholomew of Sandwich. The books were squarely in her realm.

When it had been discussed with Nerissa, Ripred had observed a quick smile from Nerissa. Something rare from her gaunt face. She hid it quick, but Ripred did not miss things like that. Nerissa saw visions of the future in her dreams. These visions were in bits and pieces, some happening in the past, most in the future. Most involved death.

How did you live knowing in advance who will die, not being able to stop fate from taking those close to you? As a result her sanity hung by a thread and despite knowing all that death was coming, Nerissa was still compassionate. Maybe knowing the death was enviable made her more compassionate.

But that flash of the smile. She knew something and was not sharing, her visions had spoken to her. And that was not usually a good sign.

While Ripred finished Bart's online banking, he opened a new window. Lizzie, Gregor's sister, had spent a significant amount of time teaching Ripred about computers and the internet. Lizzie was afraid of her own shadow and here she was spending one weekend after the next teaching a gnawer how to use a computer. She had even bought him a track ball which worked much better for someone without thumbs. Ripred did not need the help anymore; with google he could get through most issues that came up. Lizzie still visited though, but not as often. They enjoyed each other's company, though neither would admit to it, so they made excuses to meet. Who would have thought, the creature from the shadows would be hanging out with the kid afraid of her own shadow.

He smiled as Pinky and the Brain now played on the laptop's screen. The killers who created this had managed to offend his kind without even knowing he existed. Good think Ripred was not easily offended, because the show was funny.

"Narf!" came from the computer speakers as he watched the show. Ripred couldn't help himself but laugh. Then a ding, and a message notification in the bottom right hand corner it. New email, a delivery notification that a parcel had been dropped off to Bart's apartment. Odd, he had not ordered anything.

Pausing the show, he opened the email, and skimmed over. An inertia mapping device had been on back order and only just delivered. It looked similar to the device Gregor used to map the caverns with Phobos. Opening another windows he wrote an email to Lizzie, asking her to pick it up and take it to Gregor's apartment. The device was expensive and there was no point someone wandering off with it; Gregor could probably use it.

Then he was back to Pinky and the Brain and their plot to take over the world. "Could a gnawer use a mobile mapper to take over the world?" Ripred wondered. Not the world, but it would help if one wanted to take over the Underland.

Chapter 3 – Vruga

Vruga noticed that Kor was in a foul mood. He had been ever since that fool Bart Sandwich had disappeared. It was hard to blame him, his army had been ready to decimate the other Underland. After the disease that Bart had released ravaged those peace loving fools in the other Underland, Kor was going to march in and take it.

But Bart had disappeared – probably dead by now – and the other Underland, while there was sickness, the devastation that was expected from the disease never happened. No matter, Kor would have killed him when he was done with him anyway. Bart was but a puppet.

Without Bart and the disease Kor had given him to use on the Underland, Kor's plans had to change. They had created a small passage to Underland to get Kor's army over there. But without the disease to minimize the resistance, a much larger complement of men and larger equipment would be needed, a bigger hammer. That is where Vruga came in.

Kor strode into the command area and shouted his name, "Vruga!" Kor continued with a demanding tone, "What is the status on the drilling?"

It had taken years to find a passage close enough to Underland to make the drilling feasible and it had not been until Bart has shown up the inertial mobile mapper that they could do it. Bart had mapped out areas in both Underlands near each other with the mapping device. From that they were able to determine where to start, where they would end, and minimizing the length of the tunnel at the same time.

With the original plan they had drilled a one and a half meter tunnel roughly a kilometer long to reach the other Underland. Big enough to move some small equipment and troops but nowhere near the size needed for the larger equipment and larger complement of men they needed now. Now they were working on a tunnel ten times as big and drilling was proceeding much slower than Kor's expectation.

Vruga was trying to look busy. "We have had some setbacks your majesty."

"How long?" was the punctual reply from Kor. His majesty was never interested in setbacks.

"Well, the seam of granite was," Vruga was immediately cut off by Kor.

Kor was not known for his patience, "I am not looking for excuses Vruga, how long."

Others in the room were now trying to distance themselves from Vruga, no one wanted to be associated with him and the extended drilling time. "Three days your majesty." Vruga was now kneeling before Kor, trying to look as small as possible.

Kor roared and swung at Vruga knocking the commander across the floor. "You said three days more, three days ago!" Vruga did not answer, from previous experience the less he said the better.

Their leader was a large man in most ways measurable. His temper, his ego, his strength, his height, his waistline. One minimized as much as possible the contact they had with his majesty and generally one did not look for job advancement, the problem was vacancies keep coming up. The previous commander that had been in charge of drilling had had a poor performance review from his largeness and was no longer to be found.

With a final roar there was a crash as a desk flipped over throwing papers and geological samples across the floor and Kor left. Vruga's performance review was not to be today.

Despite Kor's tantrum, Vruga was pleased with the drilling. What they were doing was challenging. Trying to drill through rock and hit your target a kilometer away was a challenge even with the mobile mapper giving directions. Now the existing tunnel was like a pilot hole, but they still ran into all sort of surprises. The variety of rock was the biggest issue. The soft rock had to be supported before it could collapsed in on itself or the drill, and the hard rocks were all but impossible to drill through.

The granite he was going to tell Kor about was indeed a problem, away from the pilot hole it was much thicker than they expected, but they could still drill it, it just took a bit more time. The other issue was the white two tailed insects, split tails. They were vicious things and had killed more of his men than they had killed of the split tails. They were territorial and they were in its territory. Growing up they had always been told to avoid them, and here they were going through the heart of the insect's grounds.

For Kor, the loss due to the split tails was acceptable, as long as it did not slow down drilling and as long as they had enough men left to take over the other Underland he didn't care.

Vruga wanted the drilling done as well. The other side was so lush and full of resources. His side of Underland was a volcanic hell hole. Maybe when this was all done Kor would be too busy with his prize and forget about him. He could find himself a nice little secluded spot and live out his life without Kor's threats always looming over him.

Chapter 4 – Regalia

It was mid-afternoon when Phobos and Gregor returned to the castle. Gregor had first gone to the hospital to have his injuries looked at. The staff had him lay on a bed and they proceeded to scrub the wounds clean, then after a few stiches, they bandaged the worst of the wounds up. A nurse had looked at the shoulder and didn't think it was anything serious, and told him to avoid using it for a while.

In no particular hurry to find Luxa, he wasn't due back undue closer to dinner time, he went to find Amelus. When Gregor had first met Amelus he thought he was a bit of a stuffy old guy. He had a wall of rolled up old maps, the maps covered with dust that was probably from Bartholomew's time. Although the Underland had lost the word for a map maker, Gregor had reintroduced it. Amelus was the official cartographer for the Underland.

Amelus had surprised Gregor though. Now that the Underland was starting to be connect to the internet; Ripred was running Bart's digital life, Howard was all over the medical journals, and Luxa Skyped with Gregor and Judith regularly; Amelus had embraced the technology and was excited to extend his maps. "So much of the Underland is still unexplored and unmapped," Amelus had said, truly excited to expand his knowledge. Far from the dusty map collector Gregor had first taken him for.

Still thinking of Skype, "The Queen of Underland," Gregor snickered. How many people have that pop up in their call display? He was a lucky man. Technically she was queen of the humans, but everyone took their lead from her. The other species respected her and trusted her to maintain the peace in the Underland.

Finding Amelus at his desk working on a laptop Gregor said, "I have some more data from that cavern I was at last week, some of the side tunnels go pretty deep."

Amelus looked up from the screen, "Ah, welcome back Gregor."

From his bag Gregor produced the inertial mobile mapper. GPS wouldn't work underground so Gregor had found a unit that worked off inertia. The methodology wasn't nearly as refined as GPS, it was bulky and wasn't as accurate, but it work well for their purposes. Amelus would download the data on it and get it ready for next weekend, Gregor's next trip.

The pair talked a bit about the progress of the mapping, how it was coming and where would be the best place to map next, when Mareth came into the room.

"Gregor," came Mareth's authoritative voice. He was Luxa's general of the Regalian army. A highly respected man in the Underland and his friend. "Luxa has hear of your trip to the hospital."

Gregor cringed, he had hoped he could break the news to her later; he could have down played it if he was the one telling her. Howard, the chief medical officer, was the one who likely told her. He would have been all facts which would not help his case. "Thanks for the warning Mareth."

Mareth smiled, enjoying his friend's discomfort. "I will see you at dinner if you are still permitted."

Feeling he owed some sort of an explanation, "Who knew there would be a two tailed insect there?"

The general raise an eyebrow while unconsciously rubbing his prosthetic leg, "Two tailed you say? Are you sure?" He glanced at Amelus, question.

Amelus responded to Mareth, "Nothing I am familiar with, but I faintly recall something in the archives."

An interesting anomaly they all agreed. There were no known two tailed insects in Underland, but like Amelus had said, much was still unexplored. Mareth wished Gregor luck and then Gregor bid good bye to both Mareth and Amelus and went to see Luxa.

Tentatively he entered Luxa's chamber, and she was standing their waiting. "A giant insect almost killed you, then you almost fall to your death." This was worse than Gregor thought. Phobos must have told Luxa the story already, probably after Howard told her of his injuries.

Luxa stood her ground. "Sorry." It was all he had.

After a pause Luxa finally relented. After a firm hug they kissed. Gregor enjoyed the moment. Luxa's smile, the smell of her hair, the smear of paint down her arm which was obviously from Judith. "Why do warriors always feel they must prove them self?"

A rhetorical question Gregor had no intent of answering, changing the conversation he asked, "How was your day with Judith?"

Luxa made an effort to clear all official business of the castle on the weekend to spend with Judith, and more often than not she was successful. Mareth, her army general, and York, commander of the castles royal guard, both made and extra effort to make sure it happened. "It was great, we were painting," Luxa said as he held out her arm showing the streak of blue paint Gregor had noticed earlier.

"Where is our little angle?" Gregor asked looking around the chamber.

Luxa explained, "After hearing your adventure with the insect I was expecting to spend some time with you in the hospital and sent Judith off with Dulcet."

Dulcet was the castle's nanny and ran the nursery. An amazing woman that was unflappable. She had taken care of Boots, Gregor's little sister, when she was but a baby, and regularly took care of Judith.

Gregor felt even guiltier, "Sorry," he said again. Trying to change the topic again, "Are we still going for dinner with everyone?"

And they were. Dinner in the castle always tasted amazing and the company and conversation was always enjoyable. A small gathering, most were good friends that he had fought and bled with. There was a half dozen of them around a small table. Himself, Luxa, Mareth, York, Howard, and Amelus.

Underland had been typically in turmoil and his friends had been part of more horrors than anyone should be, but the current peace that defined Luxa's rule suited them. Some of them needed to maybe hit the gym, but they were relaxed and content.

As much as Gregor had tried to steer the conversation other direction, it was soon about his recent run in with the two tailed bug. Apparently unheard of in the Underland, Amelus had found a reference to it on some of the original maps of Underland. They asked Gregor for more and more details. Gregor, having been running for his life at the time, didn't have any more to give them.

It was Luxa who finally rescued him from the conversation. "My warrior, it is time for you to take our princess to Overland."

Gregor gave her a look of gratitude and looking at his watch said, "Look at that, later than I thought."

Everyone said their goodbyes and headed their own away. On the way to collect Judith, Gregor and Luxa paused in the hallway while they were alone for a final goodbye. Luxa asked, "Tomorrow on Skype?"

"I wouldn't miss it," Gregor smiled. They collected Judith and shortly later Phobos was taking them back to the passage in their laundry room.

Now in the laundry room of his apartment complex, back in Overland, he slid the grate back over the passage to the Underland. He called back through the passage, "Good night Phobos."

Judith added, "Bye bat." Judith didn't fully differentiate between Underland and Overland names yet and stilled called Phobos a bat, just like in her alphabet books. It was a challenge to explain to her why they were different with different names. It was an endless discussion with the different species, rats in Overland are bad, gnawers in Underland are good, well, most of them.

A reply came back from the flyer. "Fly you high, Overlander."

Chapter 5 – New York City

It was always hard to give up the Underland and return home at the end of each weekend. He had his job, Judith needed her Overland education and despite what he had accomplished as the warrior of the prophecies for the Underland, he felt the need to do something and stand on his own. Lounging around the castle did not suit him and his Overland job was rewarding.

During the week, he worked for a non-profit organizing helping create filtration systems and run projects for clean drinking water. While Gregor worked here in New York City, most of the systems and projects were in countries impacted by war. It was rewarding work and after all the violence he had been through in the Underland, he felt this helped balance him out. Helping people that war had hurt.

But the hardest part of leaving the Underland was leaving Luxa. He and Luxa, warrior and queen, bound together with love there was nothing they couldn't accomplish.

Nerissa, Luxa's cousin, would probably disagreed, she would say bound with prophecy, but despite what had happened over the years, he still had a healthy doubt about them. The prophecies were so vague that it was easy to say they applied in hindsight, but looking forward, you never knew when a prophecy would apply, for there were many. The catch though was that everyone, not just the humans, strongly believed in them and Gregor thought that to some degreed that made them self-fulfilling.

It was now Wednesday night, Judith and Gregor were back into the swing of day to day life in the Overland after the weekend in Underland. Judith was in bed and Gregor had just sat down on the couch debating whether to watch some Netflix or read a book for a bit before going to bed himself. During the week he was essentially a single parent, although his parents and Boots who lived in the apartment next to his helped out a lot. Lizzie had helped too, though not as much since she moved out last summer.

There was a knock at the door. Gregor wasn't expecting anyone, "Boots?" he thought as he slowly stood up and headed to the door.

Opening the door, he saw Nerissa standing there, her thin frame wearing fine clothes Boots helped her pick making her almost looked like a runway model. It was the sad eyes and skin excessively transparent, even by Underland standards, which made her look fragile. "Come in Nerissa, you look well." Partially a truth as she looked no worse than when Gregor first met her fifteen years ago, partially an inside joke.

A sad smile, came to her face, "You are too kind Gregor; the wind would break me in half if I went outside." Nerissa was the furthest thing from being self-conscious, fully aware of how she looked to others. To a degree even probably played that appearance to others.

She entered the apartment and Gregor closed the door. Going to the kitchen he asked, "Tea?" Since coming to the Overland a handful of times previously she had taken a liking to earl grey.

"Please," Nerissa said. There were no hugs, or handshakes. Long ago, they had a few awkward greetings and with some observation Gregor realized the Nerissa always try to avoid or minimize physical contact unless she had to. He wasn't sure why, but respected his friend's need for that physical separation.

Gregor set about to prepare the tea. You didn't rush words with conversation with Nerissa, she used words sparingly like each one was a precious jewel. She was looking out the window at the sunset, watching it, enjoying it. Her visit probably timed purposely so she could watch it.

Sitting the tea on the table in front of Nerissa, Gregor pulled out a chair and sat down opposite to her. "Thank you," she said.

Nerissa didn't usually do social calls, and her trips to the Overland even rarer. Gregor was curious to the reason of her visit, and a little bit concerned. Concerned that her visit would mean the start of a new prophecy.

She pulled out a single leather bound volume and placed it on the table closer to Gregor then herself. A single bookmark stuck from its pages. "From Bart Sandwich's collection," she said, her look indicating that Gregor should pick up the book and read it.

He did, opening the front cover he found it was a journal from Bartholomew of Sandwich, the date indicating the journal was roughly four hundred years old. "This should be in a museum," Gregor thought.

Turning to the marked page he read. Puzzled, he read it again coming back to one specific part.

 _I was attacked by a white two tailed insect again, a split tail as the men have started referring to it. This Underland is too violent to meet my requirements. I am going to go back to the surface and begin my search for something that is more appropriate for my purposes. Some of my supporters are fanatical and will stay, but that is their choice. I doubt they will live a full natural life._

Putting the book down he struggled with what he had read and the consequences of it. It was a huge shift from what he had always assumed, but slowly his thoughts rearranged, assimilating this new information. Nerissa watched him patiently as he processed this revelation.

There was a second Underland. First actually, the one he knew was the second. Then the next revelation hit, the two tailed insect that attacked him was from the other Underland. The two Underlands had been connected together and recently, which is why no one had observed such a creature before.

Seeing the full realizing on his face, Nerissa stood, "Fly you high, Gregor the warrior," she said.

Something bad was coming, of that Gregor was now sure. "Fly you high, Nerissa."

She opened the door to leave, but turned back to Gregor. Her body language that of a conspirator, testing fate, testing her visions in a way she shouldn't, "Leave Judith with Boots in Overland next time to come to see Luxa." Then without a sound or a sense of movement she was gone and the door was closed.

Chapter 6 – Invaders

Luxa called on Gregor on Skype the next night and they talked about Nerissa's visit. Gregor would come down Friday night to the castle as usual. Judith would stay with Boots, there was no question Judith would stay in Overland; they both trusted Nerissa implicitly.

Friday night was upon them soon enough. Gregor went down to the laundry room prepared with a backpack expecting the worst. Batteries, flashlights, water, duct tape, some first aid supplies, and a knife. He expected to have some time to visit the armoury in the castle if things were worse than expected.

Phobos met him at the grate and after sliding the grate back and going through the passage they were soon flying to the castle. Gregor was on edge not knowing the situation. "What are we facing Phobos?"

The response wasn't positive. "The others have breached at the cavern we explored last weekend, they are massing for a fight. An invasion force."

Landing as the castle, he made his way to a room where everyone was already in discussion. Around a table sate Ripred, Mareth, York, Amelus, and Luxa. Luxa noticed him first, standing he met him at halfway from the door to the table. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then was back to business. "It is not good." Luxa said.

Mareth then continued, "Good evening Gregor, I wish it was under better circumstances." They finished greetings and Mareth continued. "After you talked to Luxa earlier in the week, Hazard and Palici went back to the cavern where you found the split tail. They found what could only be called an invasion force. They have completed the tunnel and were moving men and equipment, staging in the cavern." To emphasize his concern he paused then added, "A lot of men and equipment."

Amelus took up the conversation, "We think Bart was using a mobile mapper on both sides to coordinate the tunnel drilling. Ripred had evidence he had ordered one," Gregor recalled the one Lizzie had dropped off at his apartment as Amelus continued, "but it appears that was a replacement for an earlier unit. Their mapping of the area may be incomplete." Rolling out a map on the table, he continued, "We have plotted out what you and Phobos have mapped as well as all of Hazard's information from his scouting."

Gregor visualized the area from when he had been out there with Phobos on their trips. The area resembled an ant hill, but more Swiss cheese that solid mountain with all the passages through it. The large main cavern set deep in the earth and centred under the oversized ant hill. It was hard to get an appreciation of the location from the flat map.

They all looked at the map, in addition to the data from Gregor's and Phobos' mapping trips it had data from some of the historic maps in Amelus' collection, and Hazard's and Palcili's scouting information which was mainly troop and equipment location and numbers. They started discussing the numbers and equipment and where it was all being laid out.

The door to the room then opened fast, swinging around until it hit the wall with a loud thunk. It was Hazard who had come through the door and was already halfway to the table. Out of breath he said, "It is much worse than expected."

Hazard proceeded to update them. As directed by Mareth, he had done a second scouting and had only just returned to the castle. The staging in the cavern had continued and actually increased in pace. They were facing a far superior number but the force was disorganized and not well nourished. The equipment was a concern as well, a variety of catapults in large numbers specifically, much larger than anything they had.

The mood in the room was grim. It was Ripred that stated the obvious, "We need to take them at the cavern while they are still confined. We cannot let them get out."

With that, they started talking strategy and started to formulate a plan. They would cover the entrances they knew about from Gregor and Phobos' expeditions, and have multiple teams wandering for the entrances they didn't know of. While the invading force's purpose was apparent, they would still send a messenger to confirm. Maybe they would back down if they knew they were pinned down.

In addition to the large numbers, the weapons were a concern. Wood was extremely rare in the Underland, with no sunlight, trees just didn't grow. As a result, there weren't many weapons where wood was the ideal material such as pikes, catapults, bows, arrows, and the like. Mareth and Ripred, it would need to be a different strategy then they were use too to counter the wooden weapons. Typically the wars in the Underground were between the humans and the gnawers which resulted in close quarter fighting as the gnawers favoured the shadow of the caves. They just hadn't needed things like catapults.

They would focus what they had in the way of long reach weapons – they had some smaller catapults and shorter metal and bone spears of their own – and try and match the invader's numbers with sound strategy. It was all hands on deck and only a minimal complement would be left with York at the castle should some stragglers make to Regalia.

With that planned, the meeting broke up. Mareth, York and Ripred went back to their respective troops, Amelus went to update and issue new maps with the strategy. Mareth and Ripred would then distribute to their commanders. Hazard strategically noting who was left in the room, quietly exited to give Luxa and Gregor some privacy.

They sat back down at the table after seeing everyone leave. Gregor felt exhausted even though the conflict hadn't even really started yet. He saw Luxa had her hands on her lap and he put his right hand on her left. He noted that Luxa had forgone her usual casual wear for a uniform like Mareth had been wearing. "Nothing further from Nerissa?" he asked.

With a sigh showing the same exhaustion he felt Luxa took her other hand and placed it onto of Gregor's, sandwiching his one hand. "No, but she will only say what is required. She fears changing the outcome of her vision if she says too much."

They didn't have anything else to day and after a moment he asked, "Are you ready for this?" Sensing it was soon time to move on Gregor took his hand back, the small contact with his love gave him comfort.

"No, but one never really is I suppose," Luxa said, leaning forward indicate she was going to stand she put out her hand.

Agreeing with her sentiments, Gregor stood, taking her hand in his he pulled her out of the chair. They had some time to themselves before they would meet Mareth on a ledge overseeing where the cavern was. Mareth and Ripred would need most of the night to get their troops into position.

It would feel like a long night with the nervousness preventing any hopes of sleep, nor did they feel they should be afforded that luxury. The troops were marching, they should be there. Gregor with Luxa stole a private moment to say good night to Judith and down play the seriousness of the situation with Boots on Skype before they would made their way to the armoury. Boots didn't buy it, seeing through his nonchalance about the situation. Gregor himself didn't want to admit to how serious it was either, this was bigger than anything they had faced before. Not wanting to think it, he still acknowledged it might be the last time he saw his daughter.

Gearing up at the armoury was a somber affair. Luxa had traded her uniform for underwear which resembled something pro-athletes would wear under their equipment. Appropriate for under war armour. They both outfitted with the usual armour, swords, and daggers. Gregor had the extra supplies he had brought from Overland, from those he taped a flash light to each his and Luxa's left arms. He had learned the hard way it was hard to hold a flashlight when you had a weapon in both hands.

Ready to move on, Luxa put a hand on his should and said "Wait." She produced a jeweled dagger. The dagger had been Solovet's. Solovet had craved secrets and war, she was from a different time where the gnawers were enemies not friends and what gave her purpose was to find ways to annihilate the gnawers for once and all. The dagger seemed to reflect its past owner and seemed to need to feed on death and blood let. On the brink of war with the gnawers, Solovet had given it him, the warrior of the prophecies. Now whenever violence was coming, the dagger seemed to find him.

Reaching out, his hand paused before he took it. "I fear I lose a bit of myself every time I take this dagger for we know blood will follow."

Luxa smiled, putting her free hand to the side of Gregor's face. "Not my warrior. When you stop worrying about your soul is when I will start to worry about you."

Gregor took the dagger with a nod. Now all business, "Let's find Aurora and Phobos and head to the cavern."

Chapter 7 – Battle

Hazard quietly went down the largest passage into the cavern. Nearing the main cavern he stopped, still hidden in the shadows. He could feel his heart racing in his chest, hearing the thumping in his ears. His fingers tingly and palms sweaty. It was not often one person stood before thousands of invaders.

He stood and walked to the center of the tunnel. No one had noticed him yet, "They should have had a guard posted," he thought. With the torches from the invaders camp, he could be made out.

Swinging the bull horn from around his back and blew has as hard as he could. The horn filled the cavern with its noise. Most stopped what they had been doing and turned to look at the source of the horn. An eerie quiet settled on the cavern. Hazard yelled as loud as he could with a slight hesitation between each work to make it as clear as possible, "State your purpose."

There was no response, although Hazard had not expected one right away, it would take the invaders a minute to organize. As long as no one was trying to kill him he would wait for an answer. After a few minutes, which seemed more like hours, he yelled again, "State your purpose!"

No much later there was a commotion and near him a large man with a guard on either side separated from the troops closest to him. He heard the large man yell back, "I am king Kor, and I am here to plunder!" Hazard could see Kor probably thinking this was silly. Of course he was here to plunder.

There was a roar of approval from the troops and Hazard duck back to the shadows and ran. He had not gone far before he found Palici who had been anticipating Hazard's need for a quick escape. Without missing a step the pair was in the air and heading out of the cave. At the mouth of the tunnel was Mareth waiting for his return.

With his hand, Hazard made a slashing motion across his neck indicating the answer he had received was bad. With that Mareth turned away, going to ready everyone.

Gregor was standing beside Mareth and saw Hazard fly out of the tunnel and the slashing motion he made. It wouldn't be long now before blood flowed.

Using the maps, now updated with the battle plans, Mareth was directing troops. He stole a glance at Ripred and Gregor. "Take point now."

Point was front and centre on the main tunnel. "This is it," thought Gregor. He could feel a familiar buzz start in his chest. The buzz of raging. A quality he shared with Ripred, they were both ragers. They had a unique ability to zone in on a fight, to become an apex predator. It was like time slowed and his senses were amplified. He instinctively knew what attackers would do. It had been a scary quality to possess and had taken him some time to control and not lose control. Ripred had trained him to focus the raging and to be able to stop when the fight was done.

Gregor mounted Phobos, and Ripred slid on behind him. Phobos would drop them at the tunnel then would provide aerial support, dropping rock and picking up the odd enemy when the opportunity presented itself. It would be close quarters fighting and he wouldn't be able to do that from Phobo's back, his wing span would be too exposed.

From behind him he heard Mareth, "Your highness."

Gregor turned and saw Luxa mounting Aurora. Mareth continued, "You will stay here with the command."

Luxa had a determined look. "I fight with my men Mareth."

Mareth approached Luxa so only Luxa and Gregor's team could hear him and in a low hoarse voice said, "I cannot risk both of Judith's parents and our only ruler who has ever kept the peace in Underland."

Luxa hesitated, torn with what to do. She looked at Gregor, wanting to go with him, but knowing she shouldn't. "No one will think less of you Luxa. Mareth is right."

She nodded and stood down. Something Gregor had never witnessed her do before. Luxa prided on being the one to always lead the charge, her armour with dings and a very worn look proved that. She took a final look at Gregor, meeting his eyes, "Fly you high, warrior of Overland."

Gregor replied, "Fly you high, queen of Underland." And with that Phobos leapt into the air.

A short moment later and Phobos dropped Gregor and Ripred off at the mouth of the cave then took back to the sky. Their troops, half killers, half gnawers, were forming to either side of them. "Do not slow me down Overlander," comment Ripred.

Gregor laughed, "That almost sounded like words of encouragement Ripred." The gnawer wasn't known for words of encouragement, more like the opposite was true.

"As long as I do not have to save your life again we will be fine." Ripred was in fine form.

Slowly a steady rumble became apparent from deeper in the tunnel, the invaders were on their way. Just as slowly they could start to feel a slight vibration in the ground, then a faint light could been seen from further down the tunnel. It slowly brightened, almost like a sunrise, as the invaders approached.

The invaders were close now, maybe fifty meters away, and they stopped. Eerie shadows were cast from the flickering torches ether size of the fifty meter no man zone. A calm overtook the cavern.

The immense extent of the invaders gave Ripred cause for seriousness, "Fly you high, Gregor." It had come out more like a hoarse whisper despite no need to whisper. Then after a pause and out of character the gnawer said, "It has been an honour to fight with you my friend."

Appreciating his friend's seriousness Gregor whispered back, "Run with the river, Ripred. There is no one else I would want to have my back."

Calm and quiet went to chaos in a blink of an eye as the invaders charged with a war cry. The buzzing in Gregor's chest now engulfed his body as he and Ripred charged at a full run. The gnawer being faster than Gregor met the enemy first. Gregor watched as Ripred exploded from his four legged run into an upright position, the claws on both his arms meeting their target dropping two invaders.

Gregor was with him seconds later, swinging his sword he caught two more of the enemy, and the dagger in his left hand catching one more. Gregor yelled at Ripred, "Only two? You are slowing down old man."

"I see you finally took those lessons to heart and covered your left side," was the comeback. Gregor had a habit of leaving his left side open which had resulted in a couple injuries he would have preferred not to have received.

They fought on, back to back like a single entity, slowly orbiting around each other. Mareth's troops making equally good progress and inflicting much damage on the invader as they slowly made their way down the tunnel. Their discipline and training proving to be no match for the poorly trained invaders despite their numbers.

It was then the archers arrived. Gregor had caught an unexpected movement high in the tunnel out of the corner of his eye which alerted him to the archer presence. He yelled at Ripred, "Down!" But he had realized the threat a second too late; Ripred already had an arrow in his chest.

A second rain of arrows came down slicing through the air, one more hitting Ripred yet again. Mareth's troops were now back peddling to the mouth of the tunnel. The tide of the battle had shifted.

Gregor was dragging Ripred with one hand and trying to fight off attackers with the sword in his other hand. Sweat was pouring down his face, his muscles feeling weak, but he fought on trying to get to the mouth of the cave.

Gregor met Mareth's troops at the tunnel's mouth. At the mouth there was enough room for the flyers to maneuver and they were raining down rock from the sky giving the men and gnawers on the ground some reprieve. Phobos had landed by Gregor's side. "Phobos, you must get Ripred to safety, he's hurt."

Gregor stepped in front of Phobos to take on two more of the attackers which had made it past the falling rock. He held his sword out in front of him as he approached and as the attackers focused on the sword he stepped forward quickly with the dagger in his other hand taking down one attacker. The remaining attacker looked at his fallen comrade which was all the time Gregor needed to slash his sword across the remaining's neck. Weapons quickly back on his belt he was back to Phobos and hurrying to hoist Ripred onto the flyers back. The flyers attack had temporary driven the enemy back but they were now out of rock and it wouldn't take long for the archers to realize they had the advantage again. He was finishing securing Ripred when Phobos said, "Gregor, loosen that a bit, I will not be able to undo it." Gregor ignored Phobos and finished what he was doing. Phobos voiced his concern again, "Gregor?"

"I know," Gregor said. Knowing what he had in mind and not wanting to risk Phobos' life he said goodbye, "Fly you high, Phobos."

Phobos then realized what Gregor was doing, a touch of panic could be heard in his voice, "No Gregor, we can regroup, I can come back for you, just loosen the strap so I can."

He pulled the strap even tighter. "Phobos will save Ripred, he has no choice now," Gregor thought. After a final look at friend, he turned his focus now to the enemy. He let the raging buzz in his chest take over as he let go of the control he normally kept over it. Then he charged.

The enemy was originally surprised at Gregor's attack. That surprise and hesitation cost them dearly. He continued to push into the mob, spinning and moving deftly, delivering death to all. Nearing the end of the tunnel where it met the cavern he spotted someone wearing royal clothes. "The king," Gregor thought, "I will take him out and finish this."

Having a target he found a renewed energy and pushed on harder. The king and his royal guard realized what was happening was now trying to get back out of the tunnel. Not wanting to miss his opportunity Gregor surged forward and broke through the king's entourage. He took a final jump at the king as he felt two arrows hit his back piercing his skin and muscle through the armour. Undeterred and twisting through the air trust he gave the jewelled dagger a final thrust into the king's chest before he hit the ground.

His momentum carried his body and into the king. They tumbled out of the tunnel into free fall plummeting to the cavern's bottom. Falling to certain death with the dead king Gregor laughed. "I guess this is why Ripred always said to have a plan, to avoid situations of certain death."

Then he hit the ground and the blackness took him.

Chapter 8 – Retreat

From the troops, word of both the king's and Gregor's death had eventually reached Mareth. Luxa noticed Mareth approaching and saw the look on his face. The strength in her legs waned. "No," she said weakly, her hands hung limp at her side. Mareth caught her from falling.

"He fought his way through five platoons, their royal guard, and then killed their king. He was brave and fought selflessly to give us a chance." Mareth said.

But Luxa was not listening. "You should have let me go with him, I could have saved him Mareth."

"No Luxa, because if we lost you too, not only would of Judith lost both her parents, but we would of lost this war as well."

She was crying in Mareth's arms. She was angry at him, but also knew that he was right. "Gregor is gone, I cannot do anything about that now, but I can still save my people," she told herself. Mareth held her, giving her time to process her loss.

With a deep breath she started to compose herself. Luxa pulled herself out of Mareth's arms and stood straight. Wiping the tears off her face she was back to the task at hand. "Status Mareth?"

Mareth composed his thoughts, "It has been ebbing. We initially had success with our plan, but their numbers overwhelmed us. We thought we might gain the momentum back and take some ground back when Gregor killed their king, king Kor, but someone has reorganized them and is now pushing back. Their intensity has increased and their numbers are threatening to overwhelm us."

The news saddened Luxa. They may be served defeat and Gegor's sacrifice would be for not. "Recommendations?" If there were any options worth considering, Mareth would have already gone through them.

From their location they could make out a good portion of the battle field. Mareth was watching it carefully, contemplating. He was to the point in his answer, "Retreat to the castle, use the wall to defend ourselves. The gnawers have agreed to defend the castle instead of going to their caves."

Luxa realized that said much about what the gnawers thought of this attack. The gnawers would not normally defend the castle, meaning they had already determined that Kor's forces would not stop with destroying the humans and Regalia, they would take them out too.

With Mareth's recommendation and the gnawers willing to support it Luxa nodded, "Give the order Mareth."

With the support of the flyers they took the rest of day to move all the troops back to the castle. Everyone at the castle was preparing Regaila for a siege. They would make this a war of nutrition.

Luxa was back in the castle, in the room where they had planned the original defence of the Underland. Mareth had called them there, "We have the castle secured. Unsecured areas of Regalia have been abandoned and rendered useless to the enemy." Regalia had a low wall, but there was still some that lived outside that. They would defend the small wall, then move back to the castle's larger walls if necessary.

Mareth continued, "The invaders are exclusively human troops."

With a cough Ripred interrupted him, "Killers." Howard had had to operate on him because of the arrows and should be still in the hospital, but Ripred insisted on being part of the meetings.

Luxa hid a smile at Ripred's barbed comment. The smile inappropriate at this time, but despite the situation she was glad to see her friends working together. Ripred seemed to save his best insults only for those he liked. Despite the tension in the room, the group before her were dedicated to Regalia, the Underland, and her, despite what Ripred would complain about. Her thoughts flashed back to Gregor and that smile that was threatening her face was gone.

Ignoring the comment from Ripred, Mareth went on, "The invaders," he called them avoiding the sensitivities of if they were humans or killers, "are on foot, no flyers or gnawers are with them, so it will take another two days for them to arrive here at Regalia. I propose to send strike teams in to cause as much damage as possible and demoralize their troops before they get here. The damage should slow them down as well." The group agreed with Mareth's sentiments.

As Mareth predicted, two days later the invaders arrived. The mixed strike teams of flyers, humans, and gnawers had been immensely successful. They had made significant inroads on the enemy's number with very minimal casualties. Now the demoralized invading forces massed outside Regalia's small walls. Small scrimmages periodic broke out between the forces but nothing that threated Regalia, the wall had stopped them. The siege would now start.

Chapter 9 – Phobos

"Gregor you fool," Phobos thought. He was on a strike team flying around behind the invaders. The strike teams had been successful and so they continued to deploy them in the siege. In the day since Regalia had been surrounded, catapults had begun to arrive. Small ones at first, but later larger ones were starting to arrive. The big ones were of concern and the strike teams, after much success taking out the small ones, were to take the large ones out as well.

He continued his thoughts on Gregor, "There were better solutions," although he did not really have any, then or now.

Hazard, the strike team leader, on Palici was beside him. "Head in the game Phobos."

He was right, daydreaming would get him killed out here. After losing Gregor he refused to carry another rider into battle and had been a bit reckless since then. With the daydreaming and recklessness Mareth had threatened to take him out of rotation for the strike teams. Threated with having to sit out he had pulled it together enough to stay on rotation, albeit without a rider, which suited him fine. A human should not die because he was not thinking straight.

They were coming up on their target and seeing what they were up against made him smile. There was a catapult, Phobos' favorite. He had even gained a bit of a reputation among the invaders. Being a larger than average flyer and in good shape from his outings and practicing with Gregor he was one of the few flyers that could pick up the catapults.

He would pick up a catapult, take it high into the sky then drop it, taking out some of their force or even another catapult. Because of this, the invaders were always looking for him, trying to take him out with their archers.

With his echolocation, Phobos was able to see much better than Hazard. "We have a problem Hazard, this catapult is bigger, I will not be able to pick it up."

Hazard thought about it, then gave direction, "Pass high, gather what information you can and meet me at the castle, we need to tell Mareth what to expect."

Phobos broke off and gained altitude, it was not his preferred action of causing havoc, but Hazard was right, they needed more information on these larger catapults. Flying over the enemy camp, he estimated number of men and took in the details of the catapult.

Despite being some distance from the castle, the catapult was being set up. With an arm roughly ten meters in length, they were anchoring the weapon to the ground and loading the counterweight with rock. Off to the side, they were starting to accumulate ammunition for it; large boulders.

"It will not take them long to be operational," thought Phobos. He looped around for another pass to confirm what he saw then headed back to the castle.

It was a quick discussion at the castle, given the near readiness of the large catapults they were to head back out shortly. Some of them were to carry large sacks of oil, others were to carry lit torches. They would burn the catapults to the ground. They were waiting on the last of the recon teams to come in with all the catapult locations before taking off. The catapults were well lit with torches to aid their killer crews operating them making them easy to spot, one could almost spot them all from the castle. The catapults were so big it was not like they could be hidden anyway.

Crews were lining up the oil and torches for the strike teams to take. Hazard gave him the signal and he took to the air, taking a sack of oil with him. He had only been in the air for a few seconds when there was a crash behind him, debris showered him threatening to take him out of the air. Tucking his wings he managed to get clear of the castle and the falling debris and was still holding the oil.

Looking behind him Phobos realized one of the catapults must be already operational. The hole in the castle was it had created was huge, Phobos could of flown through it with his wings fully extended. Not a good sign.

Looking for the rest of his strike team, he saw only a few of them were still in the air. Hazard and Palici among those still in the air. He made his way immediately to Hazard who immediately signaled towards the catapult that was operational forgetting their previous designated target. They needed to take it out before it could take out any more of the castle walls.

They started circling to gain some altitude, and below Phobos could see that the strike on the castle had not been the only strike, there were multiple holes in the smaller city wall and invaders were pouring in through the gaps. Outnumbered Regalian troops and the gnawer were retreating back to the castle. It did not look good, they needed to take out those catapults. Even worse was they appeared to be the only strike team in the air, the others had not left the castle.

Finally with enough altitude they headed to the catapult Hazard had previously indicated to. It was brightly lit, its crew working hard to ready it to fire again.

Unseen, archers began to fire at the strike team, it appears the invaders were ready to defend their war machine this time. Phobos adjusted his approach to keep out of range of the arrows until the very last minute when they would have no choice to be able to deposit their cargo, the oil and flame. Hazard and Palici did the same and were still just off his left wing.

Phobos heard a catapult fire, not the big one, a smaller one, and it was then he realized their mistake. The archers had not been trying to hit them, but guide them. It was too late though, the catapults payload was not a large rock, but thousands of small sharp rocks. The rocks perforated Phobos' wings and lodged in his chest. His payload was shredded and gone. With his tattered wings unable to hold air he was slowly falling to the ground. He tried to stay aloft as long as he could, putting as much distance between his eventual crash landing site and the enemy as possible. Just before he impacted with the ground he heard the large catapult fire again, and he saw its payload meet the castle, another large hole appearing. Enemy forces almost immediately swarming in through the hole like ants. Then he was on the ground, unable to take to the air again, and bleeding heavily from his chest.

Regalia was falling.

Chapter 10 – Hope

All hope was gone. Gregor lay bleeding on the ground. Darkness creeping in on the fringes of his consciousness. There was no rescue coming, he had seen to that, Ripred was out of the fight and Phobos couldn't come back until someone undid the strapping Gregor had attached to him and by now he wouldn't know where to look, all that was left was to die. He had no regrets but one. In his life he had lived more, loved more, and lost more than most. To die here today was almost a celebration of how full and rewarding his life had been. Except for he would never see his daughter Judith grow up. To eventually take her throne. She was going to do great things, just like her mom, and he didn't need Nerissa or a prophecy to tell him that. In his heart, as Judith's dad, he just knew.

Gregor lay there, not sure how much time had passed. His eye fluttering with strain to open. A glow from off to the side had roused his consciousness. His head struggling to get in a position to see it, but he realized there was probably nothing there. The Underland was dark and merciless, there would be no rescue. With his eyes now half open he noticed the glow was still there, it had to be in his mind.

With a thump he rolled off Kor in a puff of rust coloured volcanic rock dust, the arrows lodged in his back hitting against the ground. Pain lanced through his body from arrows being moved and multiple other injuries. Slowly the pain subsided enough for his eyes to register that through the dust still in the air he could see a tree before him. A tree black as the night, without a single leaf, stood alone in the volcanic wasteland. It was thick and knotted, conveying a sense of age. White and orange flowers hung off the tree, those white flower the source of the glow. What was this tree and how did it survive here? Trees did not grow in Underland. Gregor was surely delirious now.

The tree spoke to him. Not out loud, but in his thoughts. "Gregor, your time here is not yet done."

With what little energy he had left he laughed which caused the arrows to lance pain though his body again. Holding still the pain slowly subsided again. "I'm losing my mind," he said to the darkness.

The volcanic dust now all settled out of the air, the tree still stood before him, clear as day. There was a slight pulse from the glow of the tree's flowers as the voice in his head returned. "Get up Gregor, your family needs you, the Underland needs you."

"I'm already dead tree, you're probably not even there." Gregor realized he was now arguing with a tree. It wouldn't be long now before his light left him.

The tree wouldn't let it go though. "Gregor, you must rise. You think the battle is won, but it is not. You think your family and friends are safe, but they are not. You think the Underland and its secret from the Overland is safe, but it is not. The prophecies have brought you here. Prepared you for this. They are not done with you yet. Judith is bound for greatness, but only if the warrior of the Overland rises again."

"A prophecy tree?" Gregor thought.

The tree swayed slightly, like there was a light wind. Without a face or mouth, it appeared to give Gregor a sympathetic look. "You have scarified much for the Underland warrior, but there is much sacrifice to come. While your light flickers now, your light will burn strong for much time to come. The Underland needs it to."

The tree then started to slowly shrink, growing in reverse. It appeared it was being absorbed into the ground until there was but a single flower left. Still glowing, it was the only source of light. Then without a sound or any fading it was just gone.

The pain had taken away Gregor's ability to really think about what had witnessed and if it was even real, Gregor just continued to lay there. "Huh," he thought. "Not something you see every day."

Then the soft noise of hundreds of tiny claws reached his ears. Risking some pain, he adjust the position of his head and could see a wave of fur overtaking the landscape immediacy around him. Nibblers.

"Gregor, I am Newton," The first nibbler said. A good sign, if they were here to eat him, they wouldn't introduce themselves. "Please relax, we have need to take you away from here and it will take some time."

"Newton," Gregor thought, "That name is familiar." He tried to make some sort of positive gesture to the mice, but he didn't think it mattered. The flowering tree had something to do with this. It wasn't long before the mice had gently picked him up, his weight supported by roughly a dozen nibblers, and they were moving across the landscape.

Chapter 11 – Return

Gregor had been drifting in and out of conscious, not sure how much time had passed. The nibblers had taken care of him and while he was save from death, his body still hurt tremendously. Thinking of what the flowering tree had said, he tried to get up. "I need to get back to them," he said to no one in particular.

There was now a nibbler right in front of him. Gregor recognized him as Newton. Newton pass him a drink, and said "Drink this first."

He did drink it and when he finished it he started feeling a bit sleepy. Damn mouse had drugged him. Newton noticed Gregor's agitation over being drugged reassured him, "Do not worry about your friends, it is not yet time for that. Rest well warrior." Then Gregor loss consciousness again.

When he awoke again he didn't know how much time had passed. He slowly sat up, feeling dizzy and extremely thirsty. Newton was there offering him a glass of water.

Gregor didn't reach for it. "Do not worry, it is just plain water, it is time for you to go home," Newton said.

Not convinced, Gregor still hesitated but his raw throat and extreme thirst won and he took the glass and drank the water. His mouth greedily taking it in as fast as it could.

"You lost much blood, you will be very thirst, but try to drink slowly." With that warning, Newton took a pitcher and refiled his glass.

After finishing the second glass and feeling a little steadier Gregor went to stand. The dizziness returned and he had to sit back down. "Patience Gregor, you are no good as a warrior if you cannot stand." Newton motioned to a stack of clothes, his clothes but cleaned, at the end of the bed he was in. "When you are ready," Newton said and excused himself to give Gregor some privacy.

"I'm alive," Gregor thought. Not yet ready to try standing again he took stock of himself. He could feel tightness in his back, stiches from the arrows, his chest hurt when he moved, nothing broken, but probably a few bruised ribs. In addition to some minor abrasions that were stitched and wrapped, the rest of him just ached, it was hard to move anything. Thinking back he realized that when he landed on the cavern floor, he had been on top of the king and that was what must have softened his landing allowing him to survive.

The flowing tree. Despite there not being any prophecies associated with this battle, this war, with Nerissa's guiding visions and the tree, it still felt like there was prophecy at work. Gregor dismissed this retrospective perspective, "My friends need me, I need to move," he thought. Thoughts of the tree and if it was real could come later.

As he finished dressing, Newton came back in carrying his armour, sword, a flashlight, knife and Solovet's jeweled dagger. After setting down all but the dagger Newton motioned to the pile, "Take what you like," he then held out the dagger, "But take this for you will have need of it."

"Thank you," Gregor said. He took everything, "Always be prepared," he thought. He didn't know what he was going find yet, he only knew it wasn't good.

He put on his armour, pausing to examine the holes from the arrows. While the armour did well against the blunt blow of a sword, the small high velocity point of an arrow had gone through. Despite that, it had still probably slowed the arrow down enough to save his life. He had been lucky with the arrows and the fall. Now prepared he looked at Newton.

"We have arranged for you to get back to the castle," Newton said. He followed Newton outside of the small cave they had been in. With no torches or flashlights Gregor was again relying on his echolocation skills. It took a second, but he realized he was still in the main cavern where he had fallen. In front of him was a scruffy looking flyer. With a twitch the flyer turned and looked him, its look slightly vacant.

Newton confirmed what Gregor was thinking, "This flyer will take you to the castle."

Being they would be flying together he went to introduce himself to the flyer, "I'm Gregor," he said holding out a hand. The flyer said nothing and returned its gaze to the cavern. Gregor looked at Newton who gave the nibbler equivalent of a shrug.

With that Gregor turned back to the flyer and mounted. With another twitch the flyer took to the air and headed out of the cavern. It didn't take long to go through the tunnel and were on their way to Regalia.

"I need a plan," Gregor thought. It was only luck that he was still living. Luck ran out. Out loud he voiced his thoughts, "We need help."

If the flyer heard him, it made no indication, it just kept flying for Regalia. A few hours later and they were at Regalia. The total destruction shocking Gregor. Regalia had fallen, the castle was in taters, and more of the city wall had fallen than was still standing. Most of Regalia's population had been put to work being overseen by sadistic invaders. Work forces. What would he do, he was one against an entire army.

As he looked at Regalia his attention shifted to the background. Out there in that direction was Ares cave, his home when he had been disowned for breaking his bond to a traitorous human to save Gregor. Phobos would fight for Mareth to the death, but somehow if he hadn't die and had escaped, he would go to that cave.

"Flyer," he said getting the flyers attention, "We need to visit a cave over there," and Gregor pointed in the direction.

It was a short flight and as they touch down they heard a menacing voice, "Stop, who goes there?"

Gregor was overjoyed, "Phobos?"

"Gregor?" came the reply.

Now able to see Phobos, he looked him, "Phobos," his voice full of concern, "What happened to you?" Gregor could see the blood on his chest, his tattered wings. Gregor wondered how he even got into the cave with those wings.

With a grimace, obviously in much pain, Phobos replied, "It was bad Gregor." A pause. "You do not look so well yourself."

Despite the dire circumstances Gregor couldn't help but laugh. Phobos joined him laughing as well. Both overjoyed to see each other alive.

Slowly they stopped laughing and eventually Phobos asked, "So what do we do?"

Gregor still didn't know, but he knew he would need Phobos, "Can you fly?" he asked.

"No, but if you stich me up I will."

A determined flyer. Being stitched up and flying would be painful. Phobos wasn't one to back down.

While taking care of Phobos' wounds and stitching up his wings, together they slowly came up with a plan.

It wasn't long before Phobos was back in the air, Gregor on his back. The flyer that brought them here with them as part of the plan. They had explained the plan to it, but it had looked disinterested and hadn't commented on the plan. It had joined them when they left, so it looked to be helping them.

Despite the pain and his stiff wings, Phobos seemed to be enjoying himself, "I could not bear a life of not flying." he said to Gregor being somewhat retrospective after his day with tattered wings, not knowing if he would fly again.

It wasn't long before Phobos and Gregor were in a tunnel under the castle heading to the passage that lead to the old nursery in the castle basement. Gregor now in the passage, said "Fly you high, Phobos."

Not betraying his pain Phobos smoothly replied, "Fly you high, Gregor," and then he was gone.

Gregor slowly and quietly made his way down the passage and soon pulled his sword and readied himself. Facing the secret door that lead to the nursery he pulled the leaver to activate it, not knowing what was on the other side. He held his sword in front of him, ready to defend. The door slid open and there was someone there, but not who he expected. Dulcet was standing there, a finger over her mouth indicating he should be quiet.

Dulcet smiled then stepped into the secret passage so they wouldn't be overheard. Still she whispered, "I am glad the rumours of your death are wrong."

Smiling he replied, "Me too."

Dulcet continued, "There is one guard on the door."

Gregor nodded, "The others?" he asked.

"Those you seek are in the dungeon, Luxa is in the High Hall. Vruga, who was Kor's commander has taken over and is with her."

Gregor smiled, he wasn't too late. "I'm coming Luxa," he thought.

Dulcet continued, "The forces in the castle are minimal, after overtaking it and subduing our forces the invaders have gone to secure others, hunting down anyone who could cause them trouble." Dulcet went into the nursery first, she had been tasked with taking care of some of the children, the invader not sure what do with them yet had just put any child they found in the castle into the nursery with her. She would calm the children so there wasn't a disturbance that alerted the guards when Gregor entered the room.

Acknowledging Dulcet's information, he waited until Dulcet waved him in. Entering the nursery he first closed the secret door then he went to the door, standing beside it he waited. He didn't expect to wait long. Phobos and the other flyer had gone to create a diversion, phase two of their plan. They were going to execute what Phobos had been originally tasked to do, set the catapults on fire. With the invaders in complete control now, they would likely only have minimal guards and no teams of archers. Phobos was keen to finish his original mission.

Chapter 12 – Phase 2

Gregor heard a commotion outside the door, something was going on. Gregor was pretty sure it involved two flyers and a lot of oil. He nodded to Dulcet and she put into action the next step.

She banged on the door, "The kids have to pee," she said through the door. Kids always have to pee was their logic when they came up with it. Neither had really wanted to involve the children, but there was no other way to get the door open. She banged on the door hard again.

"Stand back," came a voice from the other side. The door opened in hiding Gregor behind it. "Which one?" the guard asked.

Gregor slipped in behind him and with an arm around the guards neck slide the dagger in his back hoping to hide as much of the violence from the children as possible. He dragged the guard out the door still on his feet. "Thanks Dulcet."

She smiled, "Get her back Gregor." There was no question who she was referring too. Luxa. Dulcet closed the door, careful to make sure it didn't lock again and once it was closed Gregor dropped the guard to the ground.

He was on one of the lower levels of the castle and the dungeons weren't much lower. Slinking through the shadows, avoiding high traffic areas he slowly made his way there. From the shadows he noticed even more guards heading out of the castle, Phobos definitely had their attention now. It appeared they were cutting most of the guard postings in half.

He peaked around the final corner seeing two guards on the door to the dungeons, looked like they hadn't cut the number of posted guards on this one. Likely even more inside the door. He needed to take them quietly. To do so he would have to take them at the same time.

Gauging the best way to do it, he swapped the dagger and sword in his hands so that the dagger was in his right to throw. Deciding on the best approach, he rounded the corner and casually walked down the hall.

By not running the guards didn't instantly sound the alarm, "Stop there," one of the guards said. The downside of this approach was that it would take longer to get to the door. Ignoring the guard he kept walking.

"Stop now," the guard said again. He still hadn't raised the alarm, it was starting to look up for Gregor. Both guarded pulled their weapons and that's when Gregor exploded on them.

Closing the gap in just a few strides he threw the dagger from a run taking out the far guard and with his sword swinging up from his side he caught the closer guard a fraction of a second later. "So far so good," Gregor thought to himself.

Retrieving the dagger he put in his left hand for a classic defensive posture and held the sword in his right to attack. Facing the door he wasn't sure what he would find. He let the rager inside him continue to buzz and when he felt ready he opened the door and walked into the dungeon area.

The buzz slowed things down, made is vision focused and sharp. He saw the four cells, each with an occupant and each with a guard. The guards all left their post and swarmed him.

With an offensive slash he caught the first guard's throat, he let that guard's momentum carry him into Gregor's own body where he held it as he turned one hundred eighty degrees to the next guard. The next guard was in full swing with a sword and the sword came down hard on the other guard Gregor had been holding on his chest. He reached out with his dagger taking down the second guard before the guard could to recover his position from the initial swing.

Without a pause he flicked the dagger through the air to the furthest guard and without waiting to see if it hit home spun another one hundred eighty degreed with two hands on the sword swinging hard and found the midsection of the last guard.

All that could be herd was the soft sound of water dripping. "Why do dungeons always have dripping water," Gregor wondered. With no other sounds, no alarm had been raised yet, but it was a matter of time before one of the dead guards was found then they would be out of time.

It was Ripred that broke the silence. "You are still weak on your left side," he said.

"Good to see you too Ripred," Gregor said, recovering the jeweled dagger again he then set about freeing his friends. Like Dulcet had said he would, he found York, Mareth, Ripred, and Amelus in the dungeon. They immediately set to making a plan to free Luxa and take down Vruga.

What they came up with wasn't much of a plan, but at this point, simpler was better. The palace guard were being held nearby, they weren't trusted to go out on the work forces Vruga had been implementing. There should be no more guards than was on them given the minimal force in the castle and the distraction Phobos and the other flyer had created.

York would take Mareth, Ripred and Amelus to free the palace guard. Ripred was in pain and Amelus wasn't a fighter, but they could still help free the guard. York would then take the guard to the High Hall where Luxa was and storm it hard. No finesse on this attack, just surprise and brute force. The number would be roughly equal and the invaders were not well trained so it should work.

The concern with this approach was that Vruga was unpredictable. He would likely take Luxa hostage to ensure his safety, or just kill her outright. Not hard for Vruga to do given she was likely restrained. Gregor's task was to ensure Luxa was not in a position where Vruga could use her when York brought the palace guards into the High Hall.

With the plan in place, he went to the door to leave, but turned back to York. "Fly you high, York."

York replied, determination could be heard in his voice, "Fly you high, Gregor." The palace guard were his men, nothing would stop him from freeing his men.

With that, Gregor took to the shadows and proceeded to the High Hall.

Chapter 13 – Reclaim

Luxa was tied up beside her throne, beside her on her own throne was Vruga. "He better not get crumbs on it," she wryly thought.

When the invaders had first breached the castle she had thought of taking to the old nursery and using the secret escape passage. It was there specifically for if the castle had been taken after all. But the invaders were on the ground floors working up, she would not be able to get pass them and out.

She also felt she could not abandon the castle or her people, Mareth would have scolded her for that thought. "You are needed alive to lead the people, not dead as a martyr to be forgotten," would be what he would say. Regardless, she weighted her options and then went to her throne to wait for the inevitable. Luxa had not look like a queen then, despite sitting on her throne when Vruga entered the High Hall; her armour battered, blood streaks smeared all over and a sword that original had been silver, was now black with dried blood.

Luxa looked even worse now. Relieved of her armour and weapons and if possible she was even dirtier then when Vruga had walked to the High Hall a day ago. Her thoughts drifted back to Gregor, they often did now, and she recalled a movie she had watched with him. He had been so excited to watch a series of them with her, Star Wars he had called them, and to her surprise they were actually pretty good. But now she felt like she was in the movie. She was Princess Leia and Vruga was Jabba the Hut. Leia chained to Jabbas side for his entertainment.

Like Jabba, Vruga was not all there. Screaming and yelling he ruled by fear not respect. Luxa would welcome time alone with him. She would tear him apart.

Where was Luke Skywalker when you needed him? Too bad in Luxa's version he was dead. Gregor was not coming back. She would do what she had to survive and hope for an opportunity to present itself. As long as she still had light, it was not over.

Gregor stood outside the High Hall. A guard on the floor on either side of him, neither would cause any further problems. He needed to ensure Luxa was safe before York arrived. York was going to come in fast and hard and there would be no way to guarantee Luxa's safety.

Frist taking a deep breath and letting it out Gregor started to let the rage buzz spread through his body. When he was ready he pushed open the grand double doors to the High Hall and without a weapon in his hand he walked into the room like he owned the place.

Everyone in the room stopped whatever they were doing and looked at him. He had made his desired dramatic entrance.

Gregor felt the need to fill the silence. "You have something of mine Vruga," he said, instantly cringing. The plan hadn't extended to creating quality dialog, no way would Luxa let him forget that line.

Vruga laughed, it was a high pitched and annoying. "You are not really in a position to be making demands fool." His eyes which had been darting around now focused on Gregor.

"I took Kor down, I'll take you down." Tough words Gregor wasn't really feeling. He just needed to get to Luxa, York would do the rest. He evaluated the situation, Luxa was beside Vruga, a single guard behind her. He didn't see any archers in the room. He just needed to get to the single guard and cut Luxa loose.

Vruga rose off Luxa's throne, "I should thank you for that I suppose. I no longer have that fool Kor threatening me and making a mess of things." Vruga looked to either side, "Guards!" he yelled.

Gregor pulled him sword out with his right hand, and the jeweled dagger in his left. The buzz in his body strong. He was ready.

It was then he realized his mistake. The guards all had wooden pikes, something not commonly seen in Underland. The pikes you did see were typically metal and not used because of the weight. He would struggle to get inside the reach of the pikes to the guards. Mentally tracking time, he was losing to much time, York would be here soon.

Looking at Luxa he saw she was shaking her head, her normally bright violet eyes now flat with anger. Gregor assume she had already come to the same conclusion and knew what he would do. He really only had one option. In his left hand he balanced the dagger, feeling its weight, he flipped it grabbing it by its blade. It would see blood yet again. Now he waited for the right moment hoping York didn't storm the room first.

Vruga realized something was up and did what Gregor had been expecting. "Kill this fool!" he yelled.

With his sword Gregor took a swing which forced the guards to take a step back giving him some space. Dropping the sword he took the dagger in his right hand and with his full weight behind it threw it towards Luxa. With a wet sliding noise the dagger sunk to its hilt through the eye of the guard behind her. "Bullseye" Gregor muttered to himself, appreciating his own joke.

He saw Luxa didn't waste any time retrieving the dagger. Gregor knew she would be free and the dagger would be lodged somewhere in Vruga within seconds, but he wouldn't see that. He pulled a pike towards him, the guard holding it lost his balance which gave Gregor a chance to regain his sword. Bringing it up, the sword met the guard trying to regain his balance. He could feel the other pikes meeting him, and while they hurt, they weren't sharp enough or fast enough to penetrate his armour like the arrows.

Without the dagger he was struggling to keep his left side covered but had managed to pull another guard off balance who then met his sword. It was then he felt a pike find a seam in his armour. The point sunk into his side. He tried to get away, but couldn't, he tried to swing his sword, but couldn't.

He was on the ground getting mauled by the guards. "I'm going to die for a second time this week," Gregor thought. And just before the darkness came again, he hear Luxa yell his name.

Luxa was staring at Gregor knowing exactly what he was thinking. He hadn't counted on the pikes so he was going to throw the dagger then take his chances. She shook his head urging him to reconsider. "I cannot lose him a second time in this battle," she thought. She was mad at him for risking his life again, and mad at Vruga for putting them in this situation.

Knowing that Gregor would not reconsider and the dagger would soon come her way, she channeled her anger, that energy, and prepared herself thinking through her next moves. She heard Vruga yell at the guards and watched Gregor move without hesitation. With crisp purposeful movements it took a mere fraction of a second for Gregor to clear a small space and then dagger was in the air.

Luxa turned to the guard. She had to move fast knowing Gregor did not stand a chance with the guards. Before the guard had hit the ground she was pulling the dagger out of his eye. Deja vu hit her, she and Gregor had done this dance before, but now was not at time to reminisce. At least Gregor's aim was better this time.

Now free, she turned back to the fight. Luxa saw the pike find its way through Gregor's armor and sink into his flesh. "Gregor no!" she yelled. But she did not go to him, she could not yet. With the dagger in her right hand she charged Vruga.

Likely hearing the yell, Vruga had now turned and noticed she was free and armed. Not wasting any time Luxa went for him. She saw the panic on his face which made her smile. He tried to yell for his guards but it was too late. Running she had met him without slowing down, the dagger penetrating his chest, Luxa's momentum toppling them to the floor. Blood pulsed from the wound in time with Vrugas heartbeat, the dagger had found something major either the heart itself or a nearby by artery.

"No time to stop," she told herself as she stood up. Pulling the dagger free she headed for Gregor. Noticing the door to the High Hall open, she worried reinforcement had come, but it was not Vruga's reinforcement, it was hers. York with a dozen royal guard rushed room, quickly taking down all the guards as Luxa met Gregor on the floor.

She took his head in her lap and yelled at York to find Howard. She needed Howard to put Gregor back together, she could not lose him again. Tears again streaked her face. Blood was starting to come out of Gregor's mouth. He seemed to focus on her for a second and said, "You look pretty Luxa."

She did not, she looked horrible. "Stay with me Gregor! That is an order!"

Gregor managed a small smile. "Fly you high, Luxa, I will always love you." Then he went limp.

"Gregor no!" was all she could say as the tears continued to stream down her face. She put her forehead to his and was sobbing uncontrollably. What seemed to be an eternity later she realized Howard was pulling her off Gregor.

"Let him go Luxa, give me a chance," Howard said as they were putting Gregor on a stretcher.

Not wanting to listen to Howard, but not having the strength to hold on, she let go and was left on the floor. Devastated, heartbroken, and alone.

Chapter 14 – Home

It hadn't taken long for the invaders to learn of Vruga's death and after that there had been no resistance. No new commander to take over. It had been like the insect Gregor had found with two tails. One just needed to take both tails off the insect, in this case Kor and Vruga, to render it ineffective.

Kor had ruled with fear and violence and there wasn't much in the way of allegiance from his troops. Vruga had continued with the same philosophy had had been equally disliked. They were debating what to do with the survivors, most wanted to go home, which they were going to permit, but some wanted to stay and it hadn't been decided if that would be permitted.

There was also the question of the passage to the other Underland and what to do with it. Mareth had sent a few teams over to explore and found it to be pretty desolate. Beyond a few insect species, it appeared Kor had killed off everything else.

Regalia, Luxa's home, had been destroyed by the catapults, it would take a long time to rebuild. The people had already started rebuilding, taking pride in what they were doing. It would take more than a war to break their spirit. A number of Underland's other species had joined in and were helping. True harmony.

It had been a week since Gregor had been stabbed by the pike. Lying in a bed in the castle's hospital he opened his eyes for the first time since he had been stabbed. He couldn't move and from where he lay he could see he was in a small but private hospital room in the castle. There were no windows, but with no sun there was no need for one. From outside the door came a flicker of torch light and from faint light he could see in a corner by the foot Luxa in a chair asleep. He smiled, and found himself too tired to do anything else so he went back to sleep knowing Luxa would be waiting.

Feeling a little stronger and not sure how much time had passed, Gregor opened his eyes again. A lit torch now in the room, the golden light from it highlighting Luxa sitting in the same chair. This time she was awake, but was reading something and didn't notice his eyes open. For a minute he just watched, trying to build some energy up. With a hoarse voice no louder than a whisper he said, "You're so pretty."

"Gregor," she exclaimed and quickly stood, coming to his side to give him a hug.

"Ow," he said.

Luxa was immediately apologetic, "I am sorry, Howard said it would be a long recovery."

He wanted to reply, to talk to her more, but was too tired and went back to sleep.

Next time he opened his eyes it was Boots in the room. "Boots?" he asked.

She recognized his confusion. "Don't worry, we all have been taking shift watching you, it was pretty touch and go for a bit. We had to force Luxa to leave, to get some rest. Mareth had to threaten to put her in the dungeon. She has been running the halls like a little school girl since you told her she was pretty yesterday."

He couldn't talk, only one word at a time. "Underland?" he asked.

Boots was happy to give answers, happy to see her brother alive and talking, "Safe thanks you to. Destroyed by the catapults, but you probably saw when you snuck into the castle. People are already cleaning and rebuilding, the other species are helping too, I think they are stronger now. Luxa's peace will be stronger with them all coming together."

"Phobos?"

"Phobos will recover, he filled in some blanks on your antics. Although he won't actually say it, he is particularly please with how many catapults he and that other flyer took out." Boots replied and with a small chuckle continued. "You should see Ripred, he is as cranky as ever and still complaining about your lack of planning."

"That sounds about right," Gregor thought as he smiled, but it hurt to even do that. Ripred has been stitched up but had obviously been in pain when he last saw him in the dungeon. "Good to see you Boots," he said.

Boots smiled, happy her brother was recovering. "Good to see you too brother," she said not sure if Gregor had heard her as his eyes were closed again.

Over the next week he improved dramatically, staying away for a bit longer each time. Everyone had visited and checked on him. He woke one evening to find Luxa reading in the corner again. "How's the book?" he asked.

She looked up at him and smiled. "It is OK, it is about some chauvinistic warrior saving a princess, the story is actually kind of familiarly, but I am not sure why." Sarcasm was dripping from her voice.

Gregor laughed, "Ow, don't make me laugh, it hurts too much." Everyone had been filing in all the gaps for him, explain what happened after he had killed Kor, but one thing still bothered him. "Did you ever figure out where all the wood came from?"

"We think so, Mareth's teams to the other Underland found a passage to Overland which lead to barn. There were stacks of wood from the Overland in the barn ready for the taking." Luxa paused, then asked, "Guess who owned the barn?"

Gregor's thinking had already gone down this path and figured he knew who would be involved. "Bart Sandwich."

Luxa took on a mischievous smile with his answer, "I would complement your intelligence and logic skills but given the crazy stunts you did that landed you in this bed that would not be appropriate."

Gregor smiled and thought, "Luxa has a point." He chose not to answer, not wanting to take the bait, not a conversation that would end well for him. Instead he speculated on the passage and the barn, "Handy since all of Bart's assets are yours now."

She nodded in agreement and stood, "I have to meet with the council. They are still debating the other Underland and the survivors from there." She bent over and kissed him full on the lips.

It hurt so much to move even that little bit required for the kiss, but it was worth the pain. Everything was going to be all right he decided.

Epilogue

Gegor was laying in his hospital bed recovering from his injuries, still in the small windowless room. He had been here for about two weeks now and was begging to be let out. He could still only barely move, so he couldn't escape on his own, he was debating trying soon regardless. They had brought him back to the living to only slowly poison him with bland hospital food. Luxa could have at least used her royal influence and had Gregor moved to her chamber, she was the queen after all. Leaving him here was probably Luxa's form of payback for saying she belong to him in front of Vruga.

He had thought about what had happened over the last week and was slowly coming to terms with it, so much had happened. The one thing that left him unsettled was the flowering tree. Not knowing if it was real or just a vision from death being so close. The fabled light at the end of the tunnel. Or maybe his sanity was leaving, too much violence and that was his way of coping. Regardless, he had told no one, not even Luxa. What was there to tell really?

He was drifting half asleep when Nerissa came in and sat in the chair beside him. He hadn't even noticed until she took his hand in hers in a way that was slightly intimate. He went to pull it back, but Nerissa held it. "Shhhh, Gregor, please relax."

Gregor not having he energy to do much else relaxed as she asked. She held his hand almost like she could feel his life energy, his chi, reading it. Not a word was said. Slowly Nerissa replaced his hand by his side on the bed, carefully pulling the sheets back over so his hand wouldn't get cold. Gregor could see her face now and it wore a sad smile, but a smile never the less, which was nice to see on her.

Nerissa bent down and kissed Gregor on the forehead, she hesitated, her lip then whispered in his ear. "We are more alike than you think Gregor." She paused then continued, "You have seen my secret. The flowering tree has spoken to you. You do not yet, but one day soon, you will believe in it. One day soon, you will need to believe in it. You must."

Then she was gone as quietly as she came, like her feet hadn't even touched the ground.

Author's Notes

I always like to add some real elements to my stories to ground the story and make it feel more realistic, for this story here are some of the more prominent elements:

The two tail creature Gregor encounters while mapping is based on a Bristletail, but for the story it is oversized like most Underland creatures are. ( wiki/Diplura) A new genus which is white and only in habits caves was only recently found. ( wiki/Turkmenicampa_mirabilis)

While not specifically mentioned in the story, I used the image of an informal upright bonsai tree to describe the flowering tree, which also matches the painting for the cover of this book. ( wiki/Bonsai)

Handheld inertial mapping units like what Gregor was using do not exist, but the technology does. ( wiki/Inertial_measurement_unit)

Catapults are just neat. Given the weapons of the previous Underland stories this seem to be something that would be appropriate for their level of technology and could cause the severe damaged to the castle in the story. ( wiki/Catapult)

A pike, which is like a spear, would again would be appropriate for the Underland's level of technology. The rarity of wood would explain why they weren't used in previous stories. ( wiki/Pike_(weapon))


End file.
